Winchcombe - Neill Crossing (?)

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WINCHCOMBE NEILL CROSSING (?) July 2/9th. At 11.30 on Friday night 20 eager bods left The Cottage, after walking the four miles from the Fatersplash and made their way up to Fields Hut in approximately 22 hours. By about 3a.m. pronounced snores, coming mainly from Hori and George, indicated that everyone had retired for the night; but the peace was not to last for long as Hori's alarm clock told us at about 5a.m. that it was time to think about rising. Titch however was the only one who really thought so and by the time the rest of the Winchcombe Neill party arose he had the fire lit and the billy boiling. At 7.30 after a substantial breakfast seven of us set off leaving Fields to the the Southern Crossing party who were still blissfully asleep. In slightly misty weather we made Kime Hut in two hours and here we donned parkas and gloves with Titch, Hori, George and I pushing on and leaving the other three who had decided to wait for the Southern Crossing party. By the time we reached the top of Hector the weather had deteriorated considerably with gale force winds nearly knocking the breath out of us and bringing thick mist and cold rain which was not very encouraging to say the least. With myself using Geor'ge as an, anchor against the wind which seemed intent on blowing us off Hector, we made our way around in circles (Ever diminishing ones? - Sub.Ed.) stopping every five or ten minutes to look at the map and to read the compass which was most conveniently due no doubt to the nails in our boots. (Seems to me heard Staneingi,du tell of mineral deposits in the Tararuas - on Hector too at that. Could be? - Sub.Ed.) There was some disagreement as to which was the ridge we were meant to be on but after wandering around in the mist. and wind and rain for what seemed to be hours we at last reached a unanimous decision and dropped down into what we hoped would be the Tauwharenikau, not the Hector River. Fortunately for us it was. The going, thank Heaven, lercame much easier, downhill all the way, and we reached the river at about 1.30p.m. We had a most welcome brew then pushed on down river again. It was still raining but George encouraged us by saying that we could only be about 12 hours from Cone Hut. (It's a lie ad infinitum. - Sub Ed.) Howeverm 5.30 found us still ploughing through waist deep water and myself again using George as an anchor, this time to prevent my being washed away. The river by now was rising steadily so we decided that the wisest thing to do would be to camp, at the next bit of shelter, which happenèd to be a fallen tree on the edge of the river. In the half light we changed our soaking clothes and making ourselves as comfortable as possible we settled down for the night after partaking of some delicious stew cooked chiefly by George; and with a little rum to warm our cold and aching limbs we fell asleep. Oblivion. however. did not last for long as the rain began to come down in bucketsful and the water began gradually seeping through our covers which apparently were not adequate. At 6a.m. we could stand the discomfort no longer and feeling thoroughly; wet, cramped and miserable we crawled out of our bags and procoeded to Fring them out as much as possible. The river had bccome a raging torrent and at a glence we could see that it would be madness to attempt getting out that way. After a brew and a bite to eat we proceeded on our way, climbing steadily for about 12 hours to eventually find ourselves on the end of the Neill ridge. From there we climbed onto Mt. Cone. The going was fairly tough, to me at least, as our gear was wet and made our packs considerably heavier, but from Cone on it was downhill all the way to Cone Hut where we arrived at about 2p.m. Hori, feeling fit, (? - Sub. Ed.) thought he had better get home that night if possible, so he left us and went on. George, Titch and I lit the fire and had a most welcome meal and dried out our gear. We retired at an early hour and slept very soundly till 6a.m. when we rose, after eating the food we had left, pushed on to arrive ande Smiths Creek at 10.30. We left there at 11 and got out to the P.V.D. at 1p.mo where we washed and changed, making our way home feeling a little cleaner. Those on the trip were Titch Graham (Leader), George Thompson, Graeme Hall and Lesley Clendon, L.C.